EddieDean

Hooray! That’s excellent to hear. I don’t currently plan to add subtitles, though they have been requested a lot. I don’t know how much work they’d take, which is why it’s not something I’ve picked up. Does anyone know how to create/edit subtitle tracks? I’d be starting from scratch.

Just looking at work commitments for the next short while, it looks like I won’t have the time to create an Episode 2 focus thread in the short term. If anyone wants to put something together please be my guest!

For Rebels I guess it depends on whether you’re interested in the journey of the Darksaber too- you could probably get away with finding a list online that tells you any episode featuring either Maul or Mandalore.

Yep, I’ve got a Mando-focused cut of my TCW:R edit, available from the spreadsheet.

Maybe Palpatine is the one that gives Anakin the information that his mum’s at risk, actually putting him on the path to finding that she’s been kidnapped (which leads to him slaughtering them)?

Yeah, good shout Peter Pan, especially on the lightsaber fight reordering. It’d feel a lot more punchy if we took out that moment of downtime where Obi-Wan’s just waiting behind the gates - it should be that they drop while he’s at his most emotional, prompting him to fight in a way that Maul then exploits to quickly send him down the pit.

And regarding the Padmé capture, I do have a shot available which bridges those two scenes. By zooming (aggressively) on Gunray turning toward the door (originally after it opens) and playing the door opening sound effect, we can then transition to Padmé walking in, then continue from the next part of the zoomed shot (but unzoomed this time).

To be honest, I’ve done very little music editing. I don’t know if this is the right approach, but I’d assume that it’s best to get the scene order working, then see where the music needs to fit, then tweak the whole to ‘feel’.

Ah yes, for certain. Haven’t thought about that in the slightest yet.

Hal 9000 said:

I agree it’s good on paper but there are a few points, most prominent being going to the Gunguns being marched around in surrender.

Apologies, I can’t quite parse what you’re saying here- can you clarify?

Ooh, one other thought: I don’t like the brief cutaway to the Neimoidians coming so early, since there are a few cutaways in that section (one other brief one where the droid control ship is seen before activating the droids to fight the Gungans), so it adds yet another bit of cognitive load.

But what if they’re looking at something else before demanding droidekas? What if the viewscreen could be modified to show them watching one of the otherwise-cut shots of Padmé making her way through the palace? That way it’s part of her plot without us having to linger on her party’s travel, and it leads nicely into her capture as it’s not so much earlier than those scenes.

I think I’m going to return to seeing what can be done to really smooth out all the final act, further refining the ideas here and then here (link contains latest version of the scene).

I think there are a few things I still need to work on:

• Potentially a new line during the hangar shootout to have one of Padmé’s guards say something like “I’ve received a report that the gungans have surrendered! We HAVE to make it to Gunray!” Ideally Anakin hears this, which is why he then activates his ship to shoot the droidekas that threaten Padmé’s crew, preceding his decision to join the space fight.
• Bridging the two Padmé capture scenes into one slightly longer one, and placing it after Maul kills Qui-Gon. (I’d use a zoomed 4K shot to get a good bridging reaction of Gunray as the doors open to reveal captured Padmé.)
• Make some of Rogueleader’s suggested changes to Anakin’s space combat, having the out-of-control spin early by mistake as Anakin’s still rough with the controls, and then the deliberate spin into the hangar as Anakin takes confident control.
• I’m not sure about having Qui-Gon communicating to Anakin through the force, probably it’s a step too far, and I don’t think I can make a better version of this, but I’m still a little on the fance.

I think I’d like to reorder the whole like this (changes to prior ideas in bold):

PLAN: Gungan army draws out droid army, allowing Padmé’s crew to infiltrate the city and palace. Jedi will move to capture Gunray (plan A) whilst pilots move to take out the droid control ship (plan B).

1. Gungans and droids face off on the plains, droid tanks fail to breach Gungan shields, so droids are activated and enter shields, close combat begins.
2. Padmé’s team and Jedi infiltrate the city, Neimoidians show suprise and request defensive droidekas, team makes it into the palace hangar.
3. Gungan battle turns bad as the droidekas take out their cavalry and the shields, Gungans attempt to flee.
4. Pilots are freed and we follow them up into space and first combat with the droid control ship.
5. Gungans surrender. (Now we have one less thing to think about - they were a distraction anyway plus the characters we care about least in this sequence - and jeopardy hangs over the other plots.)
6. Padmé’s team become aware that the Gungans are captured, and restate the plan to get to Gunray in the throne room, and they move to do that.
7. Maul appears and the Jedi step in to deal with him; Padmé’s team must go alone. (First plan change. Maul’s presence changes everything - with only the Jedi, the capture of Gunray would have been near certain. If Maul were to defeat the Jedi, the palace plot would be a near certain loss. Everything on the ground hinges on this fight.)
8. Droidekas in the hangar block Padmé (Jeopardy for plan A that the Jedi can’t solve) so Anakin activates his ship to deal with that; Padmé’s team run into the palace. (With Padmé’s crew moving through the palace for an unspecified amount of time, we don’t need to follow this plot until we choose.)
9. Anakin heads into space, stating his intention to help. (He recognises that plan A is in full jeopardy, so joins plan B.)
10. Maul/Jedi battle continues from the hangar into the power room. (The Jedi/Sith appear evenly matched.)
11. Anakin joins the battle in space, determined to help but less obviously skilled.
12. Maul/Jedi battle continues into the forcefield gates, they all pause. (We get a beat here for an extended focus on Anakin).
13. Anakin grows in obvious competence, and enters the droid control ship - but his ship fails. (This plotline’s in jeopardy, so everything hinges on Padmé’s team, or hopefully the Jedi’s victory.)
14. Maul/Jedi battle continues, Qui-Gon is killed. (Apparent failiure. But because Obi-Wan is behind the wall, we can also pause from this plotline for a beat or two.)
15. Padmé’s team (running) get captured by droidekas (requested by Gunray, making him seem more competent). Flow straight from these shots directly into-
16. Padmé’s team are brought to Gunray. “Your little resurrection is at an end.” (This was the last hope for Plan A, so the mission seems to have failed. Definitely a loss unless we can get a Jedi back in play.)
17. Obi-Wan fights Maul, but ends up hanging in the pit. (Lowest point, least hope.)
18. Anakin turns his ship back on, destroys the droid control ship, and escapes. (Hope returns as if from nowhere).
19. Gungans are freed, and cheer. Brief high for this plotline, but no mission victory yet-
20. Padmé’s team capture Gunray. The army and Gunray are defeated, thanks to Anakin, but Maul’s still a threat to our main characters on the ground
21. Obi-Wan’s being taunted by Maul’s sparks, but jumps up and bisects him. Qui-Gon’s death scene follows. Now that the mission is complete, we see the cost of victory.
22. Endings.

Looks good to me on mobile!

Oh man I love these! Such added value.

Nope, but I maintain active links to Smudger’s movies on his behalf! ☺️

Thanks very much for the feedback. I agree with a lot of what you say.

The 501st is definitely the first proper good arc chronologically, or if not chronologically, as something that deserves to be a very early story in the war. Smudger recognised this, making it his first movie, and it’s why I’ve highlighted those first five episodes as a little ‘intro arc’, and would make it part of my own first movie too. The issue is that this show really needs to be recognised as The Ahsoka Show, not the ‘prequel characters anthology’ it began as. And while unarguably rough, Malevolence and Gunray arcs set up important character traits for Ahsoka - her determination, empathy, overeagerness, and brashness. We need to know where she comes from, so we can appreciate her growth. I’ve tried to strike a middle ground by highlighting those specific episodes as weaker than the rest of the show - hopefully to encourage the viewer to stick with the show even if they don’t quite enjoy those episodes. I’m interested in how you all feel that lands in line with that goal, or even whether it is the right goal.

As for the 501st, some good notes here. Echo’s name is a clumsy addition, as is Hevy’s ‘brothers’, so I might see about changing that. You’re right that I could smooth the intro dialogue too. I might also expand out the first third of the movie a little and give the squad a bit more success (especially since success [and medals] allows me to give 99 a bit more value) - though I still feel like it’s a more compelling three-act structure if it’s their failiure that sends them to the Rishi moon.

You might be the only person who doesn’t like 99 though! But I have to keep him either way I think, since he’s the inspiration for Clone Force 99 of the Bad Batch.

As for the opening line of each season, I don’t know. I think it’s inoffensive enough, at least. But I did kinda like the idea of giving each season a theme which also clearly outlines what’s the state of the galaxy/war right now. I quite like it as a replacement for the worthless fortune cookies.

Speaking of the movie, I have thought about how I’d structure a purely hypothetical movie 1 a little more. Since this is the first movie to follow Attack of the Clones, it should be clone-focused. That means the 501st, and an extended version of the Christophsis content which includes Hidden Enemy (and its traitor clone). Malevolence (and chasing Grievous) lead nicely into the 501st, and the Gunray episode continues the Ventress story, leading into it too. So it’d be a bit like this:

• Establish that Dooku’s agents are doing what they can to stop clone production dead in its tracks and undermine the Republic’s ability to field an army. Also establish
• Start on Christophsis, with the clone ambush, and parallel plots of Rex/Cody investigating the traitor as Anakin/Obi-Wan hunt Ventress. She escapes.
• Cut to Grievous in the Malevolence destroying Plo Koon’s fleet, and targeting the next medical station. Emergency in the sector.
• Return to Christophsis, with my trimmed version of the content from the movie. Before things get too heavy, Dooku tells Ventress that Gunray has been captured. Luminara’s specifically on the support ship dropping off Ahsoka. Ahsoka meets Anakin, and they liberate Christophsis, then head to space.
• Cut to Kamino, where Domino Squad are struggling in their training.
• Cut to the Malevolence storyline, where Obi-Wan’s coordinating medical station help whilst Anakin and Ahsoka hunt for Plo Koon and a clue about the Malevolence’s whereabouts. Probably revert to nearer the original ordering of the Malevolence storyline, where first it’s Plo Koon focused, and then the hunt for the Malevolence as it’s destroying medical stations can occur over a longer time period. Conclude the Domino Squad on Kamino storyline around here (or get them to Rishi if it feels like enough time’s passed), then destroy the Malevolence. Establish Luminara as present at the final battle. Grievous escapes.
• Cut to the Rishi moon, where Domino Squad are ousted. Hints of Anakin and Obi-Wan hunting Grievous, as we intercut with Ahsoka, with Luminara, fending off Ventress. The 501st rescue Domino Squad. I may see what I can do to have Ahsoka’s interrogation of Gunray yield the clue which she gives to Anakin which sends Rex/Cody to Rishi. (Edit: I just tested this and it’s easy peasy!) Anakin congratulates Ahsoka.
• Conclude with Domino Squad, the 501st, Anakin and Obi-Wan defending Kamino against Grievous and Ventress.

One thing I really want to do with my purely hypothetical movies is make sure the characters are well-balanced in each of them, moving smoothly between storylines. So it’s less about big, focused episode arcs, and more about the characters always having something relevant to do.

Tee hee. Anyway, Nev, I’ll take the workprint please!

2001th!

Rogue, I like that reordering. I think the show put Nevarro first since those early scenes with Greef helped explain to the audience why Grogu’s back with Mando if they didn’t watch Boba Fett. Let’s see where episode two goes next.

I also thought the initial scenes were a flashback - you could maybe pretend that the kid in the water is Din, but I think you’d have to cut before the crocodile fight because that only ends because of up-to-date Mando. Though maybe there’s a tighter cut where the Mando grenades are what cause the killing blow to the beast.

Then again, thinking back to the early episodes and Acbagel’s movies, I don’t know that the first episode needs a Din flashback, since it follows a fun narrative where his mysterious character is slowly revealed through the story.

Thank you all so much guys, this means so much to me! ❤️

I’d love to become a fanedit.org editor and get it listed on IFDB, but it’s tricky to become an approved editor there (especially with such a large project for review… and the fact that right now they’re focused on a much older Hobbit project which hasn’t been my focus for a long time).

But anyway, I really really appreciate all the support.

Now that I’m done with the ‘big picture’ though, I can focus more on the smaller details. If there’re any features of the edit - however minor - that you guys think I should re-think, please let me know. I’m more than happy to revisit decisions, tweak scenes and shots, etc. Convince me to fix stuff!

You’re all awesome.

Agreed. Definitely the most forgotten animated show. I only watched a few episodes.

Octorox said:

I know you’ve probably gotten this question plenty of times before, but have you given any thought to a Rebels: Refocused? Rebels is probably going to become much more relevant with the Ahsoka series on the horizon. Unfortunately, I think Rebels is harder to reshape because the progression is significantly more linear, but I’ve had friends that have complained that the first season in particular is hard to get through.

I have (of course!) BUT:

1. I don’t think it needs quite as much fixing - generally a viewer could suffice with a ‘best episodes’ list or a ‘Ahsoka focus’ list, for example.
2. Goob on these forums is doing a similar Rebels edit for further refinement on top of the above.
3. I’d like to keep my focus on TCW, the prequel era, and supporting Acbagel’s Mandalorian and Bad Batch edits, at least for now. I think that’s plenty!

Still, I may one day take a deeper look at Rebels, and even Resistance, perhaps!

REQUEST FOR SUPPORT

Hi folks, now that this is complete and polished, I’m looking to launch it over on the fanedit.org forums. Threads from unapproved editors can get buried quite easily over there (and I’m still not approved) so I’d be extremely grateful if you could give the thread over there a bit of love - perhaps via a brief review, or a comment on the approach taken over here? Thanks in advance to anyone who helps give this edit a little buzz beyond our borders!

Other post-processing might be an option, just for further refinement. Audacity, for example.

EddieDean said:

honestabe said:

EddieDean said:

RELEASED - S00E00b - Prologue: Life and Death (Ahsoka) (v2.0)

Just FYI: This prologue episode does not start until the 3:42 mark. You get a black silent screen until then.

Thanks, I’m on it!

Fixed!

honestabe said:

EddieDean said:

RELEASED - S00E00b - Prologue: Life and Death (Ahsoka) (v2.0)

Just FYI: This prologue episode does not start until the 3:42 mark. You get a black silent screen until then.

Thanks, I’m on it!

Really looking forward to v3 here!